THE THREE TYPES OF HAUNTINGS

What images do you conjure up when you think of ghosts? Do you visualize a vaporous form manifesting itself as you make your way through a graveyard or walk on a road toward some destination? Do you imagine a person coming toward you who is nearly translucent? Or, do you encounter a person you know has passed away, appearing just the way you knew them when they were alive? If you answer "Yes" to any of these questions, then you have just met a ghost.

The first type of haunting resembles playing back a recording of an event. The apparition or spirit you encounter talks or acts the way it did before again and again without any interaction between you and it. This event manifests itself in the present at a certain time, day or night, at a certain place and at a certain date when the episode occurred in the past under the right conditions. This type of haunting is referred to as a residual haunting. The past event produced residue that has been implanted in the area of the incident. Most of the time, such residue is contributed to a situation that spawned strong emotions. There is no element of danger to you.

The second type of haunting involves entities that manifest in partial or full-bodied forms or prefer to remain invisible. These spirits can think for themselves. They may not realize at first that they have separated from their bodies, or they may truly be aware that they have passed from our physical plane of existence and do not attempt to move on due to their uncertainty of what is on the other side after making the crossover to another plane of existence. Nine chances out of ten, there will be interaction between you and them. In many cases, you may hear disembodied voices, whisperings, footsteps, music, the shattering of glass, knocks and scratching on the walls. And when you investigate these noises, the activity ceases. At the same time, you may detect the odor of perfume or cologne or the scent of cigars or cigarettes in an area where no one smokes. You may feel someone patting you on the head or tapping on your shoulders, something unseen brushing up against you or encounter rooms in a dwelling that are colder than usual (e.g., cold spots in a windowless building when it is ninety-five degrees outside).

There are playful spirits. You may witness doors or windows closing and opening; electrical appliances and lights turning off and on without any apparent reason; furniture moving around the room; and objects disappearing and reappearing in the most unusual places.

The question is why do these spirits act as they do? There may be several reasons for their behavior: They may not want you to stay in an area that they deem to be theirs; they may express displeasure with your actions in a dwelling; or they may try to get your attention so they can communicate with you.

Within this type of haunting, the visual contact phase is the most intriguing. As far as the process goes for the spirit to appear, they have limited abilities. It often takes a living, breathing person to start and complete the process or they may rely upon the physical environment they are in. All people possess an aura and the aura produces natural energy from the body. The spirit is drawn to the aura and feeds upon it, giving the spirit the strength to materialize. The person may observe orbs or flashes of pinpoint lights. They may notice multiple orbs combining together to take the form of a person. That spirit will appear in the way it wants rather than the way you except. In addition to a person's aura, the spirit can draw energy from the light and radiation of the sun or from the electromagnetic fields generated from electrical equipment within the home or building. When it materializes, the entity may appear headless, grotesque, deformed and vaporous, or it may assume the shape of any animal.

The time factor that determines a spirit's stay here on the earth is undetermined because time has no relevance to those in the other spiritual plane. The entity could stay for an hour, a day, a week or for decades and then, it goes away. On many occasions, they may remain dormant for years until a situation triggers an emotional response. As an example, it remains in a house where it lived when they were alive. They may become active when a new resident comes into their home and begins to renovate and make other changes in the house. The spirit comes and harasses the new occupant. Another scenario involves a new arrival for a young couple. The spirit may be a deceased relative of the couple or of the previous owner who loves children. It has been documented many times that a woman or man has been seen in the nursery watching over and, in some instances, protecting the newly born child.

The third type of haunting is the one initiated when the spirit is asked to interact with the living. This type of encounter is serious and the most dangerous due to the fact that living person is dealing with an entity that is nonhuman. That spirit has never been alive. These spirits existed from the beginning of time and space and are mentioned in the Koran and in the Holy Bible. They often manifest through the use of the Ouija board, witchcraft and through other forms of the black arts. In most cases, when these entities are encountered for the first time, they appear to be friendly and helpful thus disguising their true appearance and nature. Often this is the case when the spirit is contacted through the use of the Ouija board; the person asks the questions and the entity responds with the correct answers. As time goes on, a rapport develops between the living and the nonliving. The person learns to trust the entity until without warning the entity reverses course, causing the person's behavior to be altered in ways leading to a destructive path.

There are two processes that occur in the interaction with demonic and the living: The process begins when the person wants contact with the spirit and uses ways to invite the entity to communicate with them. The demon creates fear and, in the process, destroys the will of its victim through the elements associated with the second type of haunting. This is known as the infestation process. The second process is known as oppression, which involves reducing the person to their lowest point of existence. It begins saturating the five senses of the person with every weapon the spirit can muster: rapping on walls, windows and on furniture; creating voices and whisperings; moving objects through the rooms; drastically changing the temperature of the room; closing and opening windows, doors, drawers and cabinets; and creating grotesque appearances and screams. Then, the process accelerates to an ominous pitch involving gouging, cutting, slapping, kicking, levitating people and objects, creating fires, violently pulling hair and clothing, causing headaches and other illnesses, creating foul odors, showing itself on computer monitors and television screens and loud obscene language. The victim becomes trapped in their environment and they begin to give up. This is the time where the demon starts to possess the person.

In the month of December 2007, Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world when he proclaimed that the Catholic Church needs more exorcists to fight against Satanism. The Holy See came up with a plan in which each bishop would be obligated to have a group of priests in each diocese who were trained in the rites of exorcisms and be on call to execute their duties at a moment's notice.

IN THE BEGINNING

The tract of land on which the main buildings of Ohio Wesleyan University now stand was the center of Indian Life, a scene of picturesque and legendary pioneer happenings, and later, of events of local and some national importance — all these decades before it found its true function as a college site. The metamorphose through which our campus has gone presents a remarkable story. Its earliest central point, the sulfur spring (there were in fact several springs) with its surrounding marsh land served for deer and buffalo as a deer lick, a haunt of coolness and rest; Indians prized it, calling it "Medicine Water"; the spring and a pioneer tavern built nearby played an important part as a rendezvous of soldiers in the War of 1812. The trail from Columbus and Worthington north to Sandusky passed by it. And around spring, tavern, and soldier's camp, themselves surrounded by knoll and vale and thick tangle of shrub, vine and honey locust, pathless, eerie and and romantic, a body of legend and myth grew up. Fiction became strangely mingled with fact.

— Dr. Henry Clyde Hubbert, professor of history at Ohio Wesleyan University

THE FOUNDING OF DELAWARE, OHIO

In the early 1800s, Joseph Barber built his residence at the edge of present- day South Henry Street. He expanded his two-room cabin with a two-level structure, and soon a courtyard, barn, miniature tannery, trading post and a blacksmith shop were built. Joseph expanded his cabin into a tavern that became a focal point for travelers wishing to rest, quench their thirst, satisfy their appetites and catch up on the news of the day. The trading post became the center of commerce in the area where furs, fruit and spices, horse trading and bartering between Indians and pioneer settlers occurred.

In 1808, Colonel Moses Byxbe and settlers from the state of Massachusetts flocked to the area and established their homesteads near the trading post. The village of Delaware, along the banks of the Olentangy River, began to take shape. The pioneers had a cordial relationship with the Delaware Indian Nation. The Delaware Indians were in the process of moving out and resettling in other parts of Ohio and Indiana in compliance with the Lancaster Treaty of 1744 and the Treaty of Granville of 1814. Before the pioneers made their homes, the Indians established their residences in various parts of the county. Two Indian villages were originally located along the Delaware Run and West William and Elizabeth Streets where Monnett and Austin Halls now stand. Even though the Indians and settlers were on friendly terms, there was a growing concern among the settlers that one day they may become prey to the Indians. An incident soon justified their fears.

Hostility arose when a force of the Wyandot and Delaware Indians came back to the village after conducting a series of skirmishes against unsuspecting settlers in Pennsylvania. They kidnapped a young girl from the Delaware village and traveled with her along the Olentangy River to their camp in Troy Township. A band of pioneers, including the girl's elder brothers, pursued them. At one point during the pursuit, they lost them until they sighted smoke flowing over the treetops of the forest. The posse went in the direction of the smoke until they reached the Indian's campsite. Silently, they crept upon the kidnappers and ran them out of the camp and into the woods, which gave the remaining rescuing party a chance to retrieve the young girl who was never harmed during this entire ordeal.

At the beginning of the War of 1812, the pioneers had great concerns regarding more attacks. To calm their anxieties, blockhouses were built in the county. One of the blockhouses was located at the corner of Sandusky and West William Streets. Delaware's inhabitants did not have to wait for long for additional protection of their homesteads. United States military forces under the command of General Winchester were centered at Urbana, St. Mary's and Fort Defiance, and other military forces for Pennsylvania came down by way of Canton, Wooster and Mansfield. Other reinforcements from the states of Virginia and Kentucky came from Chillicothe and traveled through Delaware County.

In February 1813, General William Henry Harrison, who later became the ninth president of the United States, founded his headquarters in the house of Colonel Moses Byxbe on Williams Street. In March 1813, Governor Shelby of the Kentucky regiment and his aide, John Crittendon, located his command at the Barber Tavern. His regiment was encamped across from the tavern and just south of the Pioneer Cemetery where Selby Stadium now stands.

GROWTH OF DELAWARE AND THE FIRST HAUNTING

The years of 1812 and 1813 were marled with settlements proceeding north of Williams Street. The village of Delaware was in the center of Ohio and the state legislature, seating in Zanesville, was looking at Columbus and Delaware as possible locations for the new state capital. The prospect of being the central government seat of the state started to attract entrepreneurs and pioneers to establish industry and new settlements in the county.

Barber's Tavern saw its share of expansion as well. During Delaware's early history, the tavern was the scene of many court trials, and the grand and petit jury systems were established to adjudicate the different severity of offenses against the public. The trials were situated among the groves outside the tavern.

The central part of east campus began to flourish. A tannery, distillery and a cocoonery were built to complement the tavern.

The cocoonery was once located where Edwards Gymnasium now stands along the main business section of Sandusky Street. Women with delicate hands were employed to spin threads from silkworms. Due to the British blockades during the war, the threads were transported to the western part of the United States where the silk material was sent to the Orient by ship to be manufactured into the finest clothing of that time. Opposite of the village, on Union Street, was the distillery. Its operation was due to the joint venture of Dr. Reuben Lamb, prominent physician and county recorder, and Rutherford B. Hayes, who later became the nineteenth president of the United States. Across from the distillery was a two-story building where University Hall, the college's administration building, now stands. This structure was constructed in 1808 by Joab Norton as the first tannery in the county of Delaware. The lower half of the tannery was occupied by vats and machinery needed in the manufacture of leather products. Just east of the tannery, a running spring furnished water to the Norton household and to the tannery itself. In 1813, Joab sold the tannery. The new owner passed away a few months after the initial purchase and the tannery stood abandoned for nearly twenty years. Over time, the foundation of the building began to crumble, which caused the brick and woodworks to separate from each other, leaving huge gaps in the walls and roof. The roof began to leak profusely and the doors and window shutters began to separate from their hinges and swing back and forth due to the wind. The glass in the windows became virtually nonexistent due to acts of vandalism. The areas where the glass should have been were filled in with linen, giving the casual stroller the mistaken belief of seeing apparitions on windy nights. The cracks and crevices throughout the building allowed the wind to whistle and howl loudly, giving many in the village the belief that banshees occupied the tannery. Residents did not venture toward that area in the evening hours. The eeriness of this setting is complementary to an event that occurred on a bitterly cold December evening in 1813.